News Releases and Statements

All of the defendants, who were owners or employees of 9 different grocery stores in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, were charged with participating in fraud schemes from 2011 to the present in which they exchanged WIC vouchers for cash while keeping a portion of that cash for themselves.

Rex Anyanwu was found guilty Friday of deceiving immigration officials by helping aliens enter into fraudulent marriages with U.S. citizens, obtaining his own citizenship in violation of the law and conspiracy to commit visa fraud and alien harboring.

A Jacksonville man was sentenced to five years in federal prison Tuesday for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Aaron N. Debarardnis, 26, of Lower Township, pleaded guilty to second-degree distribution of child pornography before Superior Court Judge Michael J. Kassel in Camden County. The state will recommend he be sentenced to three years in prison.

Thomas Andrew Quinton, 32, from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 12. Sentencing has been set for Feb. 7. He is currently detained.

HSI special agents arrested Danilo Montero-Ramirez, 61, and Teresa Araujo-Martinez, 40, Saturday morning in Peabody without incident.

A Ketchum woman, Simona Rus, who pleaded guilty Monday to immigration fraud, faces up to 10 years in prison, revocation of her U.S. citizenship and deportation to Romania, as a result of a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

HSI Yuma ASAC Jay Crede presents Jonathan Lines of Lines and Lundgreen Roofing and Insulation, Inc., with an IMAGE certificate during a ceremony Nov. 15. Lines and Lundgreen is the second Yuma company to become IMAGE certified.

Anthony Yager, an Arkansas man with a prior felony sexual abuse conviction, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Thursday for downloading more than 100 videos containing child pornography.

Kievan R. Walters III, 24, of Springfield, was sentenced Nov. 18 by U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough to 168 months in federal prison. Walters pleaded guilty plea in July to receiving child pornography in the fall of 2012.

Leonardo Medina, 44, was arrested Nov. 13 on a criminal complaint alleging he solicited sex from a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl.

Favian LaTorre, a former police officer with the Dallas Independent School District, was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to harbor an illegal alien.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested a man and woman from Providence Oct. 15 on charges of aggravated identity theft, theft of government property, forging endorsements on treasury checks and money laundering.

Luis Gerardo Alvarado met a girl who lived in Coleman County, Texas, by contacting her through Facebook chat. From mid-March until April 8, 2013, Alvarado communicated with the girl and attempted to persuade and entice her to have sex with him.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and El Salvador's National Police signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) Thursday to further define and strengthen the relationship between the agencies, particularly with regards to the Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU).

A Texas honey broker was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison for illegally brokering the sale of hundreds of container loads of Chinese-origin honey, which was misrepresented as originating from India or Malaysia, to avoid anti-dumping duties when it entered the United States.

Forty-seven individuals were charged Thursday with first degree racketeering in a takedown of a violent narcotics distribution network with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has named Marlon Miller as the new special agent in charge of the two-state Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office based in Detroit.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, working jointly with Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force (PRCACTF) officers, arrested Friday an assistant church pastor from Vega Baja, Dolores Pagan-Lozada, for sexually enticing a minor.

Former professional football player Samuel George Hurd III, 28, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison for his role in a cocaine and marijuana distribution conspiracy. Hurd previously played in the National Football League.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents, working jointly with Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) partners, disrupted a maritime illegal drug shipment Friday seizing 54 bales of cocaine with an approximate weight of 1,500 kilograms and a street value of $38 million.

The R.M. Kerner Company, Erie, Pa., has partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's employment compliance program, IMAGE, or ""ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was introduced today as the newest permanent observer agency to the American Police Community (Ameripol). ICE is the second U.S. agency admitted to Ameripol.

Kenneth Lewellyn Flowers, 36, was transported by commercial air from Salt Lake City Thursday under escort by ERO officers to his home country and turned over to Belizean authorities for questioning.

Deundrea R. Miller, the second and final defendant in a child sex-trafficking case, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 10 years in federal prison.